Daina Jurika-Owen 
Ten Cultures, Twenty Lives 
Refugee Life Stories

When your country is riddled with violence and oppression, is it possible to escape and find refuge?We often don’t realize all it takes for refugees to navigate the path to resettlement. They face years of waiting and countless hurdles before arriving in a strange new land with few possessions and little knowledge of their new communities’ language and culture. How did a diverse group of refugees make their way to the US and settle in Abilene, Texas? Who helped them through the resettlement process as they embarked on their new lives?In Ten Cultures, Twenty Lives, refugee storytellers from a broad swath of cultures-Rwanda, Congo, Liberia, Cuba, Iraq, Bhutan, and more-reveal their compelling, sometimes humorous, often bittersweet tales of resettlement in West Texas. Through their life stories, refugees share their powerful experiences about the long, hard road they took to get to the US. Ten Cultures, Twenty Lives guides us through their journeys and draws us into the world of refugees and resettlement staff, describing the passion and energy needed to help these courageous storytellers resettle in the US and the challenges they faced.